Metwally Upsets Waters in Carol Weymuller First Round

The first round of the 2017 Carol Weymuller Open included an upset as world No. 23 Mariam Metwally defeated 2016 finalist and 2014 champion Alison Waters in five games Thursday night at the Heights Casino in Brooklyn.

The first four main draw matches of the tournament yielded four Egyptian winners. Metwally recorded the first victory of the session in what was her first career win against Waters, the English world No. 8, in five games.

Another five-gamer ensued as Egypt’s Salma Hany notched her first victory over world No. 13 Joshna Chinappa in her sixth attempt.

“I’m so relieved! I finally beat Joshna in the sixth time,” Hany said. “I’ve never beaten her. First of all when I went on the court I was so relaxed, and I wasn’t sure how my body would carry me and I thought it’s not the end of the world to lose for the sixth time. When I was 9-1 down in the first game I thought just enjoy and stay a little bit longer in my favorite tournament.”

The Carol Weymuller quarterfinals will see a massive match up between world No. 1 Nour El Sherbini and U.S. Open presented by Macquarie Investment Management champion Nour El Tayeb, both of whom advanced in three games. Last week, El Tayeb defeated El Sherbini in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

El Tayeb defeated Dutch qualifier Milou van der Heijden.

“I was very nervous before this match with huge expectations after last week,” El Tayeb said. “I had to tell myself that it was just another match. Milou had two good wins in the qualification and so I knew she was playing well. I was very excited and nervous to play another match and I’m just trying to enjoy playing and put the results aside. If Nour wins her match tonight and we play tomorrow, she is still #1 and it’s going to another exciting match with a good friend.”

El Sherbini would go on to defeat fellow Egyptian Mayar Hany.

“Mayar is not an easy first round, she’s one of the young Egyptian players who is up and coming fast,” El Sherbini said. “I’m feeling good it’s the first round and it’s hard to mentally get back after a week of being here since the U.S. Open. Nour just beat me last week so hopefully its revenge time!”

The second half of the first round will play out Friday evening from 5:30pm local time. Follow live scores and streaming on www.usprosquashseries.com/live.